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Más Al Norte
After Benito Juarez appears to the Queen of British America, the gears start grinding toward the Reconquista that all Gran Colombians profoundly desire. This episode begins in the Staff Room of the Federal Building of Tenochtitlán, just after Juarez's brief appearance in New London. Vice-President Simón Bolívar III asks Juarez what he plans to do. Juarez replies that the Reconquista will begin as planned but El Bigote must first be captured. When Secretary of the Armed Forces Felipe Domingo asks him why, he reveals the rumours that El Bigote killed one of his Little Dwarves two hours before and adds that El Bigote is their most famous criminal in any case. He adds that British America will think Gran Colombia weak if it can't even manage its own wanted criminals. We then cut to the Gran Colombian desert, late at night. A covered wagon littered with lanterns is rolling along - a covered wagon containing El Bigote and his Terrible Giants! El Bigote orders Pedrito to bring him the map, which Pedrito obligingly gives him. Looking at the map, El Bigote muses out loud that they have "just a few more kilometres to go," and that President Juarez will regret it when the group finally get to their destination. The gang erupt in laughter at the thought of President Juarez meeting a cruel fate. We find our heroes on the outskirts of Tenochtitlán, when an unusually large grey-with-stripes house cat surrounded by the Fuego Azul approaches them. He greets them, tells them he's a one-year-old cat called Chico , and laments being thrown out of the house yesterday and having nowhere to live ( he shows the heroes a sad kitty face just to emphasise how tragic his situation is). He brightens up a bit, walks over to El Tigre de Plata, nuzzles him (as cats do), and offers to help them find El Bigote in exchange for cuddles and food. Puzzled, El Tigre de Plata asks Chico how he knows they're looking for El Bigote, at which point Chico admits he's psychic, and that El Bigote was his human. Chico then closes his eyes as if intently concentrating, and then he tells the group that he's found El Bigote and the Terrible Giants; according to Chico, they're heading for the Cueva Espantosa (Frightful Cave), which is "más al norte" (further North). Curious, El Tigre de Plata asks Chico how much further North. Chico says that it's almost on the border with British America, and he offers to take them there. The scene briefly cuts to a lone man in a nearby building observing the strange interaction unnoticed and transmitting a telegram in Morse Code. When we get back to our heroes, they're proceeding to a wagon hire facility a short walk from where they are; as luck would have it, the wagon hire facility has been open all night. They approach the owner and ask for a wagon. When he asks them for 100 Gran Colombian Pesos for a day's hire, El Tigre de Plata offers him an autographed portrait of himself; as much of a fan as the owner is, he declines the offer. He does, however, make the heroes a counter-offer; if they can clean his horse stables, they can have the wagon for free. They accept the offer and plan to channel water from the lake surrounding Old Town Tenochtitlán in order to speed up the cleaning job. Rascar Cápac asks the owner for a shovel, which he obligingly gives them, and they set to work creating the irrigation ditch, which takes roughly an hour; fortunately, they stop the flow of water before the lake has a chance to dry up, and they channel enough water to clean the stables. Impressed with their detailed work, the owner loans them his best wagon with two of his best horses. Before they leave, the heroes ask the owner if he's loaned any other wagons this evening; the owner admits that he loaned one to El Bigote some hours earlier. The heroes thank him for his honesty, and they prepare to leave. As the heroes are preparing to leave, President Juarez suddenly appears to them, much to their shock. He tells them he's heard that they're looking for El Bigote; he offers them food (for humans and cats alike), water, and rifles with bullets. He informs them that the Federales can't intervene directly because El Bigote is already on the lookout for them and will be more difficult to capture as a result. He wishes the heroes good luck, and they thank him for his aid. The heroes realise they're at least a couple of hours behind El Bigote and his Terrible Giants, so El Tigre de Plata agrees to speed up the process by pulling the wagon alongside the horses. Meanwhile, Chico concentrates and informs El Bigote that he and others are en route to him. Upon getting this message, El Bigote gets Tito to turn the wagon around so they can deal with the "¡Gato metiche desgraciado!" (wretched meddling cat) Along the way, Rascar Capac asks Chico what perils they might encounter along the way; Chico replies that they might encounter boulders (El Bigote and his Terrible Giants could well have placed boulders in the path), mutated snakes, bandits, and other similar perils. Oddly enough, a few kilometres into the journey they come face-to-face with a large, burdensome boulder; after much pushing and grunting, the heroes manage to remove it and carry on with their journey. Next, they encounter two mutated snakes, both of which resemble anacondas in size but with wider eyes and determined looks; one keeps missing El Tigre de Plata and falling, whereas another manages to lodge its teeth in the arm of Rascar Capac, who unfortunately for it is immune to snakebites. El Tigre de Plata manages to blow the second snake's head off, and Adán dispatches with the first snake with a very super-human crush. Rascar Capac feeds some of the dead snake to Chico, who eats and purrs in delight. After the brief meal, Chico asks him for some cuddles; he scratches behind Chico's ears, and Chico purrs a very grateful "¡Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrracias!" Soon after, El Tigre de Plata notices bandits a few kilometres ahead and stops the wagon until they arrive, whilst Rascar Capac hides in the bushes, waiting to ambush them; however, the encounter with the bandits proves anticlimactic as El Tigre de Plata quickly intimidates them into running for their lives. Eventually, the heroes come face-to-face with El Bigote and his Terrible Giants. El Tigre de Plata seizes initiative and jumps on Pedrito's back, putting Pedrito into a sleeper hold using his legs. Chico wastes no time trying to settle the score with El Bigote and gives him a powerful swipe across the face; El Bigote responds in kind by attempting (but failing) to choke Chico with El Bigote del Bigote, his flying detachable moustache. Not liking the prospect of being beaten by someone half his size, Pedrito manages to break free of El Tigre de Plata's sleeper hold. Meanwhile, Tito and Pepito attempt to throw a few punches and fail miserably. Rascar Capac manages to put Tito on the ground with a sneaky yet forceful kidney punch; Tito doubles over, vomiting. He then sneaks up behind Pepito, punching him in the kidney and bending his arm backwards to the point where he meekly surrenders and retires to the safety of the heroes' wagon. El Tigre de Plata soon reinitiates the sleeper hold on Pedrito, while Chico initiates a psychic attack on El Bigote. The psychic attack partially breaks El Bigote's concentration and ensures that El Tigre de Plata is able to dodge El Bigote del Bigote when it attempts to choke him. Instead, he flips forward off Pedrito's shoulders and slides down Pedrito's pantalones, simultaneously stripping Pedrito's bottom half and grasping onto Pedrito's Giant Endowment for dear life before jumping to safety; fortunately for the viewers, the Giant Endowment is hidden behind a fortunately placed Saguaro cactus. In the midst of this great battle, an interesting yet unseen novelty emerges - El Cacto, an anthropomorphised baby Saguaro cactus gifted with the Fuego Azul, watches in admiration as El Tigre de Plata skilfully fends off his foes! El Cacto openly declares (to no one listening) that one day he wishes to be as great a fighter as El Tigre de Plata. Knowing that his time has not yet come, he sinks below the desert sand where the epic fighting is taking place. The scene cuts back to the battle. Pedrito attempts to take a swing at El Tigre de Plata for the indignity of having been de-trousered; the poor humiliated giant fails miserably. Tito then tries to grab Adán's leg to force him down, but he fails miserably. Pepito is crying in a corner of the wagon whilst El Serpiente Negro is uselessly genuflecting and repeating "¡Ay Dios mío!" in a high-pitched voice; Adán's creator is looking at both of them and simply shaking his head. Meanwhile, Adán himself gives the doubled-over Tito a good, swift, robotic kick to the Giant Jewels (fortunately obscured by giant cowboy trousers). Seeing that his work with Pepito is done, Rascar Capac goes for Pedrito but unfortunately misses; Pedrito then does the same. This continues between them for some time until El Tigre de Plata throws Pedrito into some nearby bushes, leaving Pedrito to almost pass out from the pain in a crumpled heap. Meanwhile, Chico is dealing with El Bigote as best they can. Tired of being attacked psychically, El Bigote wraps his detachable moustache around Chico's legs to prevent him from doing anything worse. Seeing that Chico is in trouble, El Tigre de Plata goes after El Bigote, whilst Chico gives him a beauty scar; El Bigote then turns on El Tigre de Plata, choking him with El Bigote del Bigote. Adán manages to get an accurate rifle shot to El Bigote's right shoulder, partially breaking his concentration; El Tigre de Plata then breaks free of El Bigote del Bigote, then he cold cocks El Bigote with such force that he falls unconscious, but not before he experiences a temporary flashback in which he promises his mother he'll be a good boy. Soon after, the would-be criminals are rounded up and tied up in the wagon. Back in the Federal Building in Tenochtitlán, President Juarez emphasises to Simón Bolívar III and Felipe Domingo that he hopes the heroes capture El Bigote and his Terrible Giants, because Gran Colombia's position cannot be compromised when preparations are still being made for the Reconquista. Bolívar agrees that conflict with British America would be too risky prior to preparations being made. Juarez then asks Domingo when the forces will be ready; Domingo asks Juarez for a week to train the soldiers so they can learn to use their new powers efficiently and effectively. Domingo agrees to alert Gran Colombia's generals by telegram. Juarez finds the heroes in possession of El Bigote and his Terrible Giants and congratulates them on their good work. He offers to teleport them and the two wagons to the wagon hire centre and then to the Federal Building as honoured guests, and they accept. He additionally asks them to join the Gran Colombian Armed Forces as honoured soldiers in the Reconquista effort, and they accept. Prior to their departure, the heroes ask what is in the Cueva Espantosa that might have been so important to El Bigote; President Juarez mentions that a mummified elderly woman, magüey ''seeds (a hallucinogen), and ''magüey ''plants are in the cave. Rascar Capac remembers (and consequently informs his party) that ''magüey ''is the sacred plant of the Aztec goddess Mayahuei from which the ritual drink ''pulque ''is made. He reasons that not only was El Bigote planning to obtain further powers from Mayahuei using the ''magüey ''and the mummified woman, but that El Bigote also caused the Fuego Azul to manifest so strongly. Since El Bigote neither gave his victim ''pulque ''as comfort nor drank of the ''pulque ''as the sacrifice requires, his impropriety in performing the ritual angered the gods. Everyone present now realises the enormity of the danger they face. When they arrive at the wagon hire centre, the owner/stable manager is surprised to see them back so soon, and with their enemies tied up and one of the two wagons bloodied. El Tigre de Plata and Rascar Capac explain that capturing El Bigote and his Terrible Giants wasn't without its difficulties, which the owner seems to accept. However, when Chico explains in perfect Spanish that El Bigote was once his human, this is more than the owner can take; he exclaims, "¡Ay Dios mío! ¡Habla español este gato!''" ("Oh my god! This cat speaks Spanish!") and then promptly passes out. Before the heroes are shown to their rooms, Rascar Capac strongly urges President Juarez to have his guards in the Federal Prison of Tenochtitlán to keep El Bigote's face clean-shaven given El Bigote's power to send his moustache flying as a weapon. President Juarez heeds Capac's advice. After the heroes are placed in their rooms, President Juarez appears before the Queen of British America a second time, this time offering to help her defeat Rebel America in exchange for the land lost in the War of British Aggression of 1820. The Queen tells Juarez that she will consider his offer but that she is reluctant to cede land which has been sovereign British territory for 41 years. Juarez reminds her that the land was forcibly taken from Gran Colombia and that it would be a nice gesture if it were returned. The Queen promises to return to Juarez shortly with an answer. The next morning, President Juarez invites the heroes to breakfast and then to Tenochtitlán's Main Town Square for a speech he's holding. In his speech he says the following: ¡Ciudadanos de Gran Colombia! (Citizens of Gran Colombia!) ¡Hemos capturado al Bigote, y otra vez tenemos orden en nuestro querido país! (We have captured El Bigote, and once again we have order in our beloved country!) ¡Ahora es el momento de hacer caso al Norte! (Now is the time to pay attention to the North!) Necesitamos voluntarios para el Gran Ejército de Gran Colombia. Pronto empezaremos...¡la Reconquista! (We need volunteers for the Great Army of Gran Colombia. Soon we shall begin...the Reconquista!) The speech is met with enthusiastic cheers, and Juarez repeatedly chants: "¡RE-CON-QUI-STA!" The audience (including the heroes) enthusiastically join in at full volume, and then the scene cuts to employees of Juarez cabling this speech to outlets throughout the whole of Gran Colombia. People from every city and every town are now repeatedly chanting: "¡RE-CON-QUI-STA!" The final scene pans out to a Gran Colombia bathed in the Fuego Azul as the chants of "¡RE-CON-QUI-STA!" get louder and louder...